Monthly Archive: November 2017

There is now a more thoughtful method in place to appoint Canadian Senators, one that doesn’t depend only on partisan activities. But apparently this even-handed selection process has not altered the culture of the upper chamber. Its members remain as self-serving and sanctimonious as ever. Imagine, striking special medals for themselves and a few of their friends. Why would they want to look like bespangled generals who have just carried out a coup in some emerging country? It’s not as if Senators don’t have enough perquisites already. Annual salaries are approaching $150,000 a year plus a generous pension. Leaders, whips and committee chairs make even more....

Conservative leader Andrew Scheer had been pushing for a Canadian peacekeeping force in Ukraine, but when the Prime Minister made his announcement yesterday, no particular destinations were cited, there was just a grab bag of offerings of troops and equipment. Maybe it’s just as well the location of any eventual contribution is being left to the United Nations. Otherwise it could all come down to vote-pandering. Scheer, of course, was trying to get on the good side of the 1.3 million Canadian voters of Ukrainian descent. But if ancestral echoes matter so much, what about the 5 million Canadians of Scottish descent?...

As someone who has been watching CBC television news since the days of Larry Henderson, Earl Cameron, and Stanley Burke, I was looking forward to the launch this week of the new National. Certainly it was long past time to retire Peter Mansbridge, but four nights of dipping in and out of the National with its quartet of hosts has left me unable to decide if the package works or not. With all the time they’ve had to plan, the show should have been more polished and professional. As far as I could tell, there was no discernible core to the news judgment. One...

Tales of inappropriate groping and worse that happened in the past are falling like leaves from the trees. Women are coming forward in droves, finally feeling free to tell about the time they were accosted by some famous name. The kind of behaviour that’s being reported is offensive and abusive, but it also demonstrates a basic difference between men and women. It all depends on who is making the moves. Every man has a few treasured moments that are stashed away in his memory about approaches by women. In my case, there are three such stories, none of which came to...